Butterfly and moth surveys: how you can become involved

The aim of butterfly and moth surveys is not just to record the presence of butterflies or moths but also to learn more about the habitats and ecology of each species and to get information on the condition of the site so that Butterfly Conservation can implement appropriate management if required.

Please also vist our Events page for details of Field Trips that may be associated with surveys.

Monitoring under-recorded butterfly populations in the Highlands – can you help?

Butterfly Conservation recently reviewed what standardised monitoring of butterflies was taking place across the UK (as opposed to casual sightings) in order to identify possible gaps in coverage at a regional level.

The findings for BC Highland branch area were as follows:

More “all species” transects need to be set up under the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS).

More 1km squares need to be sampled as part of the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS)..

The following priority species are under-monitored:

Marsh Fritillary

Chequered Skipper

Grayling

Large Heath

Mountain Ringlet

Northern Brown Argus

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

For these species, recommended monitoring is by single species transects or timed counts. For Marsh Fritillary, counting of larval webs is also an option.

The information on
this document (PDF file) will let you know what is involved with transects, timed counts and WCBS squares. If, after reading this, you feel able to help out by setting up a transect (either all-species or targeting one of the above priority species), walking a WCBS square or walking the Inverpolly transect, then please contact:

If you are concerned that your butterfly identification skills are not up to scratch then let me put your mind at rest! There are relatively few species to learn in Highland and for the all-species transects you start in spring when there isn’t much around and gradually work your way up to the busier time in summer, learning as you go.

The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) is a UK-wide project looking at changes in the populations of the commoner butterfly species. Before the WCBS was set up, systematic butterfly-monitoring was often restricted to nature reserves or other good butterfly areas. While this was very useful for monitoring the rarer species found at these sites, the results of such monitoring did not produce results representative of the countryside as a whole. The WCBS was devised with the intent to rectify this discrepancy, which it does by choosing survey sites at random.

Hundreds of one-kilometre squares have been
randomly chosen across the country, each one waiting to be surveyed
just twice a year by willing volunteers. Here in Highland Branch (i.e.
Highland, Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides) we have 80
of these squares... and many have not yet been surveyed at all! Who
knows what unusual butterflies might be hiding in these unexplored
sites? Could you be the intrepid surveyor willing to go where no
butterfly recorder has gone before? Or are you a seasoned WCBS-er
wanting to continue with your existing site (or even to try a
different one!)? Whichever description suits you best, please get in
touch and I will furnish you with more information about the project and give you the locations of squares near you!

Please
click here to see a table with a list of the currently
available squares as well as information about the accessibility
of them.

The aim of the survey was to target recording at 100 1km squares that were predicted, through computer modeling, to be the most suitable 1km squares for the butterfly in Scotland, but where it had not previously been recorded.

To download a copy of the reports, please click the
links.
2012
2013 2014

Moth Trapping in Under-recorded
Areas

Under recorded areas in Highland were defined as 10km squares where less than 20 species of macro-moth had been recorded, or squares where one of Scotland’s commonest macro-moths, Large Yellow Underwing, had not been, suggesting that little or no moth trapping had occurred in that square.

Most of these squares were in remote areas, with few or no roads through them, some had no previous records at all.

To download a copy of the annual reports, please click
the links.
2012
20132014

Garden Moth Scheme (Report)

The Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) runs from the
beginning of March to early November, with people recording the
numbers of around 300 species of the more common moths in their
gardens once a week throughout this period. Further information on
the findings of the GMS for the whole of the UK and Ireland, both
current and historical, is available in the form of annual reports
and quarterly newsletters, which can be found in the Downloads
section of the web-site:http://www.gardenmoths.org.uk